Golden Seeded Bread Rolls

You can have a batch of these delicious, Golden Seeded Bread Rolls in the oven in no time. Their texture is light and soft and are perfect served alongside a hot bowl of soup, or filled with some delicious barbequed meat and salad.

Keep in mind a simple ratio technique whenever making dough and you’ll soon find the world is your bread basket!

Golden Seeded Bread Rolls

These delicious bread rolls are so simple. When it comes to baking I usually always like to refer to a recipe to make sure I’ve got exact quantities. Afterall, baking is a science unlike cooking a stew which can be easily thrown together with a variety of ingredients! This morning, however, I wanted to give myself credit and put the simple ratio technique to the test.

Have you read the book Ratio by Michael Ruhlman? It’s a bakers bible which will help liberate you from recipes. Imagine walking into the kitchen with no prescribed recipe to work from, but just walking in and baking? Well it can be done as long as you remember the ratio rule 5 : 3 (that is, 3 parts flour to 3 parts liquid) plus yeast and salt, 1 teaspoon of each per 500g flour.

Now stride confidently into your kitchen with just these two numbers in your head 5 : 3 (plus 1 tsp yeast and salt). The the basic rule for bread dough. You can’t go wrong!

Once you’ve mastered the basic recipe you can move on to become a little more adventurous. Normally, I add olive oil to my mix, which means I replace 60 ml of the water with Olive Oil. This way I get to turn my dough into bread rolls, pizza dough or dough balls, foccacia, whatever the fancy takes me on that day. However, today, with this batch, I added an egg to the dough mix.

What does the addition of egg do?

Egg whites help with the leavening process and so the dough rose really well. The fats from the yolk helped to soften and lighten the texture and overall, the flavour was more rich and satisfying than a dough without egg. Eggs also give the bread a rich golden color both inside and out. If you brush the top of the bread with beaten egg before baking this will intensify the effect and the result would these beautiful golden seeded bread rolls.

If you want more bread just double all the quantities, but if you’re just starting I’d stick with these quantities for now.

Method:

Place your mixer bowl on the scale and measure out the flour. Zero the scale and add in the water and egg. Add the salt to one side and the yeast to the other side. Fit the paddle attachment and let the machine knead for 7-10 minutes.

I like to finish things off with my hands. So when the dough has pretty much come together and the machine had done most of the hard work, tip out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. It’s really quite satisfying, I love the feel and texture of dough, and it’s really quite stress relieving. Who needs a stress ball when you’ve got dough to knead, plus the added bonus is you get to eat it too!

You know when your dough is ready when you can stretch out a piece to at least an inch without it tearing. Hold a piece up to a window and see if upon stretching it become translucent without tearing (known as the “Window Test”!). Once your reach this stage, form the dough into a ball, lightly oil your hands with a little olive oil and coat the ball of dough before letting it sit in the mixing bowl, covered with lightly greased cling film or a damp towel, for 45 minutes or till it’s doubled in size.

Once your dough has risen to double it’s size, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and portion off into 10 pieces. You can weigh out the pieces if you want them to be really accurate. Shape each piece into a round and place on a lightly greased baking tray and cover with more greased cling film.

Let the dough rest at room temperature for at least another 45 minutes. Or, put them in the fridge and let them rise slowly for up to 3 days. This final stage is called the proving or blooming stage and it’s at this stage the yeast ferments and the flavours develop. It has been said that a cooler, longer proving stage creates a more flavoursome bread. It is also quite convenient tip to know if all of a sudden you bread making day is turned on it’s head and you have to rush out!

When the final proving has taken place, you can brush the tops lightly with some egg wash and scatter over some seeds. I used poppy and sesame seeds. Place the seeded rolls into a hot oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Tap the bottoms and they should sound hollow. Place onto on cooling tray and let cool before consuming!

We ate our delicious bread rolls filled with my pork saltimbocca as you can see here. They went down a treat!

You may have noticed I’ve not posted in a while. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know why! But, I’ve had this little little recipe up my sleeve for a while now and wanted to share it with you before the big move takes place. My next recipe will be in a few months from now, from a new location, new country, new continent, new kitchen. All very exciting stuff. Can’t wait to reconnect with you all soon.

P.S. Exciting news! I‘ve been nominated for the “Hong Kong Food Blogger Awards 2107” which is a great little way to end my 10 years in Hong Kong. Please take a minute to click on the link in the sidebar and show your support by voting for Gillian’s Kitchen. Voting open till June 30th 2017.

Light and soft Golden Seeded Bread Rolls, perfect with your favourite sandwich filler or served alongside a hot bowl of soup. Free yourself from recipes and use the ratio method to make your own bread rolls.

Course:
Baking

Cuisine:
Western

Servings: 10

Author: Gillian Thompson

Ingredients

500gstrong white flour

250gwateror more or less depending on weight of the egg

1eggapprox. 50g in liquid weight

1tspyeast

1tspsalt

Toppings:

sesame seeds

poppy seeds

1eggbeaten

Instructions

Place your mixer bowl on the scale and measure out the flour.

Zero the scale and add in the egg and water. Add the salt to one side and the yeast to the other side.

Fit the paddle attachment and let the machine knead for 7-10 minutes.

The dough is ready when you can stretch it out until it becomes translucent with tearing.

Form the dough into a ball and lightly oil (pour a teaspoon of olive oil into your hands and coat the ball of dough. Let it sit in the mixing bowl, covered with lightly greased cling film or a damp towel, for a good 45 minutes or until it's doubled in size.

Once your dough has risen to double it's size, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and portion off into 10 pieces. You can weigh out the pieces if you want them to be really accurate.

Shape each piece into a round and place on a lightly greased baking tray and cover with more greased cling film. Let them rest at room temperature for at least another 45 minutes. Or, leave to rise slowly in the fridge for 24 hours to 3 days (see notes in text).

Pre-heat your oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7

When the final proving has taken place, brush the tops lightly with some the beaten egg mixture and then scatter over some seeds. I used poppy and sesame seeds.

Place the seeded rolls into a pre-heated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Tap the bottoms and they should sound hollow.

Cool on a wire rack and consume on the day. Otherwise they freeze well and keep for 3 months.

Hello! Thank you for stopping by. I'm Gillian, a Lancashire born, Yorkshire bred mum of four, currently living in Hong Kong. An obsessive foodie with a serious affliction of wanderlust. I love travelling, cooking and baking, food photography and hiking in the nearby jungly hills with our dog, George. Read More…

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